The present invention relates to a device for stripping a protective coating, in particular for stripping a coating of optical fiber ribbons in a process for manufacturing optical fiber array module.
In recent years, optical fibers are now widely used as medium for transmitting high volume of telecommunication signals. High volume of data can be transmitted with high-speed through the help of high-channel-count planar waveguide components and dense wavelength demux/multiplexer (DWDM) device. Optical communication can also meet the requirement of high speed and wideband in the internet communication. The high-channel-count planar waveguide component is usually connected to the related optoelectronic components by optical fiber array. In most cases, there is a polymer protective layer on the outer surface of the optical fiber ribbon of the optical fiber array. Usually, the outer polymer of the optical fibers is individually removed before the optical fibers are mounted on a substrate. The optical fibers are then aligned with grooves on the substrate and held or bound in the grooves. Because the optical fibers are so delicate, it is hard to align and to control the movement of the optical fibers on the V-grooves of the substrate after stripping the polymer protective coating. Therefore, there is a need to improve the conventional manufacture process in which the protective coating is separately stripped, and then an aligning position is made.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved device for stripping coated optical fiber ribbons to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a device for stripping coated optical fiber ribbons effectively, simplifying the separation of the protective coating from the optical fibers, locating and aligning the optical fibers on grooves of an optical fiber array substrate used to hold the optical fiber, and thus to simplify the manufacture process for optical fiber array module.
To achieve the aforesaid object, a device for stripping coated optical fiber ribbons according to the present invention, in cooperation with at lest an optical fiber ribbon having a protective coating and an optical fiber array seat having grooves, comprises a heating unit having at least a first trench for locating and gripping a first portion of said optical fiber ribbon having said protective coating wherein said first portion of said optical fiber ribbon is heated; a stripping unit having at least a second trench, adjacent to and connected to said first trench, for gripping and locating a second portion of said optical fiber ribbon having said protective coating, wherein said stripping unit is used to separate the protective coating from said optical fiber ribbon through moving; at least a cutting blade, mounted on said heating unit or on said stripping unit, for separating said optical fiber ribbon into said first portion and said second portion through cutting and peeling off or remove said protective coating of said optical fiber ribbon; a fiber array seat for receiving and retaining an optical fiber array substrate wherein said optical fiber array seat is mounted in a hollow cavity of said heating unit or of said stripping unit; and a linear guiding unit for limiting and guiding the direction of the separation movement between said heating unit and said stripping unit; wherein said optical fiber array substrate springing to and beneath said peeled optical fibers without the protective coating through the help of the movement of said fiber array seat when the protective coating of said optical fiber ribbon is removed by said stripping unit, and said optical fibers are aligned in said grooves on said optical fiber array substrate.